Mama is a superhero?
by Lifeisaticket
Summary: A little Almeida girl & CTU memories. AU. Fluff.


Tony shifted his daughter to his other knee.

"y- you, you mean mama is a superhero?" she asked him, her brown eyes wide and staring straight into his.

Tony smiled. "You could say that. She's one of the strongest and bravest people I've ever known."

Amelia paused as she digested her daddy's words.

"Woooooooooooow! Is that why you gots married?"

Tony chuckled. "Well, that wasn't the only reason, but it did make me fall more in love with her."

Amelia beamed.

"Can I go see her daddy? I want to give mama the biggest hug!"

Tony looked at his watch. "You really need to be in bed by now button."

"I'lls be real quick daddy. Please?"

"A'right, off you go princess. But be careful on those stairs, you hear me?"

Amelia took off towards the stairs, and hurried down them. Well hurried as quickly as a three year old could. She made sure she held the banister tightly like her mommy and daddy had showed her, and paused before taking the next step.

Upon reaching the bottom step she ran as quickly as her little legs could carry her towards the front room and her eyes flashed around.

No sign of mommy.

She then turned and ran towards the kitchen, and saw her mommy with her back slightly turned away from her – reading something on a can.

Amelia padded towards her and threw her arms around her mother's waist.

"Wha..?"

Michelle looked down and was surprised to see her daughter standing there. She placed the can down, and reached down to her daughter.

"Amelia, what are you doing?"

She lifted Amelia under her arms and placed her on the counter, standing in front of her.

"Are you okay, is something wrong baby?" She searched her daughter's eyes desperately.

"No mama, I just wanted to hug you. Daddy says you saved the whole world." And she raised her arms out wide either side of Michelle to show just what she meant by the whole world.

"But… what?..." Michelle was confused by what her daughter was saying.

"He said that you and Uncle Jack gots ev'dince that stopped a war. That saved the world!"

And in that moment, Michelle was straight back at CTU all those years ago. Interrogating Syed Ali; believing the Cyprus recording was a forgery and taking her thoughts to Jack.

Then long constant battle she, Jack, and then later Tony faced trying to get their hands on that evidence.

And of course, her mind skipped straight to that kiss. The first she had with Tony, after all those months of longing for him.

"Mommy?"

Her little girl's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Is it true? Did you saved the world?"

Michelle smiled at her daughter and stroked her hair.

"I guess so… yeah it's true. But daddy also helped. We worked as a team with Uncle Jack."

"It was mainly mommy though," Tony's voice travelled across the room from where he was standing in the doorway. He was grinning at them. Michelle knew that grin. He was showing her off. She rolled her eyes at him and he just bit his lower lip to stop his grin getting even wider.

Meanwhile, Amelia leant forward, and wrapped her arms around her mother's body once more. Michelle melted, and returned her hug.

"You're the best mommy in the whole world mommy, I love you."

Michelle moved back from the hug and lifted her daughter's chin up with her forefinger and thumb.

"I love you more sweetie," and she gave her a peck on the lips. "Now, you gotta go to bed, we'll talk more in the morning, okay?"

She lifted Amelia back off the counter and set her down. Both she and Tony watched as their daughter skipped out of the kitchen.

When the coast was clear, she raised her eyebrows at Tony – "You wanna tell me what that was about? I thought we were going to sit them both down when they are older and talk to them about our jobs?"

"I know…"

Tony caught her watery eyes and was at her side in seconds.

"Hey…" He caught her wrist and turned her around to face him. He cupped her face and she tilted her head into it, relishing his touch. She was slightly overwhelmed with emotions.

"We were talking about superheroes and she asked if I knew of any."

He sighed. "It just came out."

She thought about it, and then nodded at him understanding. Their work was such a huge part of their lives; natural slip-ups were bound to happen. But they swore to themselves, they would never ever tell their children the names of anybody they worked with – especially terrorists. Jack was always going to be part of their lives, but he also understood when they asked him to do the same.

"You're thinking about George aren't you?"

"Yeah."

He leant his forehead against his wife's and kissed her softly.

They stayed together for a few moments, silently remembering.

Then Michelle suddenly pulled away, remembering Amelia.

"Tony… you better grab her before she wakes up –" A bang of the door confirmed it was too late.

_She hadn't meant for the door to bang. She winced when it did because she knew she would be in trouble. But it was so hard getting the big heavy doors not to bang when she pushed them closed. She saw her big brother asleep in his bed – the noise only stirred him slightly, but she had to wake him. She HAD to tell him. Tell him their mommy is a hero. How brave she is. How she and daddy and Uncle Jack had saved the WHOLE world. Holding it all in until the morning was definitely not an option. She hopped from one foot to the other as she loudly whispered her brother's name in a bid to rouse him further._

Michelle sighed to herself as she thought of Finnley being woken up by his over-excited sister. He could very well sleep through anything, but his sister had her own way of waking him. He had spent the day at Max's house and came home so exhausted; he was falling asleep at the dinner table meaning she had to carry him to bed. He was a bit of a grump when woken unexpectedly. A small smile appeared on her face when she thought of who he got that from. The times she had woken Tony in the middle of the night for something or other and she got a cranky-looking face staring back at her for her troubles.

She started to set the table for their dinner, and her thoughts returned back to their time at CTU.

If it wasn't for George, she probably wouldn't have got the push she needed to ask Tony out. And if it wasn't for her brother causing chaos, they wouldn't have had their first kiss. And they may not be where they are now.

Just the thought of a life without Tony and their children made her breath catch in her chest. She reached out a hand onto the table to steady herself and sat down.

Peals of laughter from upstairs made her pause and refocus. She knew Tony was chasing their daughter back to bed. Amelia would squeal with terror but loved every minute of the game.

He is such a good dad.

They both talked about having children at great length within the first few months of their relationship. The subject came up again when they reunited after the divorce. He wanted kids more than anything in the world; he just felt his age would hold him back. She dismissed this immediately and her way with words reassured him. When Finnley was born, Tony took to parenthood like a duck to water. And by the time Amelia was born, he was ready to take on a whole football team. They had planned to try again before "time ran out", but they had never gotten around to it. Or so they thought.

Michelle looked down at her stomach, lifted her top and let her fingers slide back and forth across it.

"Daddy will know about you very soon baby," she whispered.

She found out a couple of days earlier; did a pregnancy test on the off-chance when she had felt run-down and nauseous. She went to the doctor to get confirmation first – they had warned her at the hospital that due to the problems she had carrying and giving birth to Amelia, she was at a small risk of miscarriage but her doctor gave her the all-clear with another scan booked for the following week just to keep an eye on them both. Ever since she got back from the doctors that morning, she had been dying to tell him, just couldn't get him alone long enough to give him the news.

Hearing his footsteps, she moved her hand away, pulled her top down and stood up to finish setting the table.

"Both are sound asleep," he announced as he entered the kitchen.

Tony then reached for his wife's hand, twirled her around and kissed her. They may have been together for many years, but he still left her breathless and wanting more.

"Tony," she panted as they parted.

"I've got something to tell you."


End file.
